Nigeria’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, has become a victim of food poisoning and is now receiving medical attention in a foreign hospital, according to a report in the US-based online newspaper, SaharaReporters.

The incident, according to the portal, happened mid-last week. Quoting State House sources in the Nigerian capital city, SaharaReporters said that “Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, been in a hospital in Germany in the last four days . . . undergoing treatment for food poisoning.”

It quoted the unnamed sources as saying that “Mrs. Jonathan, who is also a Permanent Secretary in the Bayelsa State civil service, was airlifted to the hospital by an air ambulance in midweek under emergency medical conditions.”

Presidency sources, according to the report, “stated that the emergency airlift departed for Wisbanden, Germany, but it is not clear if her treatment was being undertaken in that city.” The sources could not however say when she will return to the country.

It was not clear what food the First Lady ate, who prepared it and who served it.

Dame Jonathan, who turned 55 in July, has lately been quiet and largely out of public view following harsh criticisms of her alleged lavish lifestyle and constant seeking of the limelight.

*Photo: First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan